German security warns of growing danger of Brotherhood incursion

Aya Ezz

On Monday, January 25, the German Interior Ministry sent a memorandum to the country’s parliament warning of the danger of the Brotherhood’s incursion, demanding that parliamentarians quickly enact a set of laws to limit the group’s fearful activity in the country, indicating that it feels great concern as a result of their suspicious movements.

According to press sources, Germany is a safe haven for the Brotherhood in Europe, as it penetrates through the organizations, research centers, media channels, and other youth and women’s organizations it has established, which have attracted many citizens and other Muslim communities through them.

Reports also revealed that all institutions affiliated with the Brotherhood in Germany have been involved in many acts of violence and are also supporting terrorist groups with donation money.

Dangerous steps

Germany’s intelligence service, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, monitored that the influence of the terrorist Brotherhood is increasing in the country, especially in the eastern German state of Saxony.

Gordian Meyer-Plath, head of the state intelligence service, announced that the Brotherhood exploited organizations, such as the cultural association Forum of Saxony, and the lack of places of worship for Muslims who came to Saxony as refugees to expand its structures and spread its perception of political Islamism in Germany.

Meyer-Plath emphasized that the agency is concerned about this development because of the Brotherhood’s rejection of the main principles of a free democratic system, such as religious freedom or gender equality.

He indicated that the Brotherhood began to take dangerous steps recently, as it bought many buildings to establish mosques or gatherings for Muslims, and this matter is happening intensively in cities such as Leipzig, Riesa, Meissen, Pirna, Dresden, Bautzen and Görlitz.

Since entering the country, the Brotherhood has deliberately expanded its activities and established affiliated organizations, and among the most important of these institutions is the Risala Center, which is located in the capital Berlin. The Brotherhood works through this center to expand its organization base by attracting young people and children of the Muslim communities through Arabic language and Quran Centers.

The Islamic Council is also located in Berlin and is run by Khader Abdel Moati, who is the general coordinator of the European Council of Imams and Preachers and one of the most prominent leaders of the Brotherhood.

The Islamic Society also operates in Germany and is linked to the Islamic Brotherhood Center in Munich, which is run by Ahmed Khalifa.

The Brotherhood’s actions were not limited to religious or political organizations in Germany, but expanded to include women’s organizations, most notably the Muslim Women Organization headed by Rachida Naqzi (Tunisian of origin and residing in Germany) in Bonn, who is the head of the women’s section of the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe.

There is also a youth organization called the Supreme Council for Muslim Youth, which is affiliated with the Islamic Center in Munich, and the Brotherhood fully controls it. In addition, the organization called Vision is the largest Brotherhood organization in Germany, with membership estimated at 40,000.

This brings the total of the group’s possession in Germany to 30 active associations, 511 mosques, 1,091 religious circles, and 2,137 university youth and women’s associations.

The Cultural Center for Dialogue in Berlin, which was established in 2004 and followed by a mosque, is under the control of the Brotherhood, and elements are attracted to it through a center to learn the German language for immigrant parents, in addition to religious lessons and teaching Arabic, which is one of the most important activities the center offers, in addition to selling Islamic books. Among its most important Brotherhood cadres are Farid Haidar, Mohamed Taha Sabri, and Khaled Siddiq.

Heavy influence in Germany

In the same context, Abd al-Khabir Atallah, a professor of political science, told the Reference that Germany has a large number of Muslim communities, and most of these communities are largely controlled by the Brotherhood.

Atallah explained that a large number of young Muslim communities in Germany have been influenced by the extremist ideology of the Brotherhood, especially since the group has great weight there compared to other European countries, in addition to that it provides a lot of money and material and moral aid for youth.